A faint, inexplicable melancholy settled in his chest.

This time, when he returned...

he hadn’t even seen Earth.

From then on, time once again fell into a cycle that could only be described as repetitive resets.

Starting from Misirushu, within thirty days, he could reach several hundred different continents scattered across the surrounding regions.

Most of those continents, however, were far smaller than Misirushu.

Through a process of simulation + on-site verification, Kanzaki Rei had gradually become extremely familiar with the surrounding world.

For example—

the nearby Gran Isle was a gathering place for ice-element mages. The climate there was brutally cold, and ice magic had developed to an exceptional degree.

There was only a single church on that island—comprised almost entirely of fanatics devoted to preservation and cold.

Beyond Gran Isle—

places like Bariro Island and the Nesimi Continent... he had visited them more than once.

At this point, he could be said to possess a certain breadth of experience.

Only after witnessing everything that had transpired in the Secret Sea did Kanzaki Rei finally begin to reveal his true situation to Ansu.

Across multiple reset timelines, he had already confirmed Ansu’s safety.

Even if Ansu learned that he had come from a future timeline, it wouldn’t have any significant consequences.

First, the future he came from wasn’t particularly distant.

Second, Ansu had no means of harming him.

Even if Kanzaki Rei exposed the fact that he was under a time curse, endlessly resetting through timelines, Ansu wouldn’t become a threat because of it.

"So, what you’re saying is... you’re actually from the future? Just not too far ahead?" Ansu asked within the sea of consciousness.

Kanzaki Rei replied, "Mm."

Ansu let out a breath, as if a long-held suspicion had been confirmed. "I thought so... Back in the Secret Sea, I already had that feeling."

"What are you planning to do next?"

"According to what you’ve said, in a little over thirty days, it’ll be the day the reset happens again, right?"

Kanzaki Rei nodded. "Yeah, that’s right."

"So now, I’m planning to try something."

Ansu narrowed his focus. "Try what?"

Kanzaki Rei replied, "During these repeated resets, I’ve discovered some possibilities... regarding changing time itself."

Having mastered forbidden time magic, his understanding of time far surpassed that of ordinary individuals.

While continuing his mental conversation with Ansu, Kanzaki Rei once again arrived at the Ancient Library.

"Good morning, Big Sister Beatrice."

His voice was soft, but the woman beside him jolted awake in a fluster.

She hastily wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth.

"M-Morning, Rei..."

"I wasn’t sleeping!"

Kanzaki Rei smiled helplessly. "I didn’t say you were."

This was the tenth time he had greeted her in exactly the same way.

At the same moment. On the same day.

And her response... had never changed.

Maintaining fixed interactions with certain individuals was part of Kanzaki Rei’s routine—used as a control to determine whether any deviations had occurred in the world.

After the brief greeting—

in the very next instant, he vanished from Beatrice’s sight.

He could faintly sense the flicker of surprise from her.

But it was only that—surprise.

By then, he had already arrived in the Restricted Archives.

"So this is what you wanted to do?" Ansu said. "Honestly... sounds pretty boring."

Kanzaki Rei chuckled and shook his head. "As if I’d go through all this for something so trivial."

He opened an ancient tome.

Looking at the book in his hands—so tattered it was barely more than a few fragile pages—Ansu couldn’t help but comment, "Can you even read something that worn out?"

Kanzaki Rei smiled. "Actually, it’s quite clear."

"You already know I’m under a curse—time repeating over and over again."

"And everything that happens, every action people take... as long as I don’t deliberately interfere, it repeats perfectly, without the slightest deviation."

Ansu nodded. "Of course. What has already happened is fixed."

Kanzaki Rei inclined his head slightly, then continued:

"And yet, this book... every time I come here, I make a point to read it."

"Want to guess what happens?"

Ansu replied, "The way you’re asking... I’m guessing it changes?"

Kanzaki Rei: "Yeah."

"This book is called The Solitary Curse of Time. It records the experiences of someone else—someone who went through the same thing I did. Someone afflicted by the same curse."

"But every time I read it..."

"The contents are different."

Ansu’s tone sharpened. "You’re saying... within your repeating timeline, there’s another variable besides you."

At his core, Ansu was still a genius.

He grasped the essence of the curse almost instantly.

If time reset over and over—

then the only factor capable of causing change should be Kanzaki Rei himself. If he remained unchanged, everything else should follow the exact same script.

But this book—

if what Kanzaki Rei said was true—

was a variable that should not exist.

"I remember you being very certain," Kanzaki Rei said, "that history cannot be altered."

Ansu snorted. "Obviously. If history could be changed, the entire world would fall into chaos."

Kanzaki Rei’s gaze deepened.

"But what if... it’s a history that never existed to begin with?"

Ansu paused.

"What do you mean?"

The question wasn’t born of confusion—it was hesitation. He had already thought of something, but couldn’t fully confirm it.

Kanzaki Rei spoke slowly.

"I’ve spent a long time thinking about time... about all of this."

"Ansu—how much do you know about the historical gap from 5,000 years ago?"

Before Ansu could answer, Kanzaki Rei answered for him.

"You don’t know, right?"

Ansu gave a cold chuckle. "You’ve already asked me that before, haven’t you? Why ask again?"

In some timeline—who knew how many resets ago—

this question had already been asked.

Kanzaki Rei continued:

"Why don’t you know?"

"Because at that time, you were at a critical stage of your cycle—one that required complete isolation."

"And during that period, you wouldn’t have known anything happening in the outside world."

Ansu fell silent.

This exchange alone proved just how deeply Kanzaki Rei understood him.

Kanzaki Rei went on:

"Time is divided into past, present, and future."

"The present exists only for an instant."

"The future is uncertain."

"Only the past is considered fixed."

"You say the past cannot be changed, because doing so would throw the world into chaos."

"But what if..."

"it’s a past that no one has ever known?"

"And if that past were changed—what then?"

Ansu remained silent for a while before replying:

"Then according to your logic... to change the past, you’d have to deceive the entire world."

Kanzaki Rei added calmly,

"Or make the entire world believe in something that never existed."

The moment he said that—

a name surfaced in Ansu’s mind.

Lottie.

The one who had once controlled the minds of the entire world.

"You’re not seriously suggesting..." Ansu said slowly, "that you’re going to pull off a deception that fools the entire world? Reverse time itself?"

Kanzaki Rei shook his head.

"No. At least, not yet. I’m not capable of something that grand."

"But..."

His gaze shifted to the battered ancient text.

"If history can be altered... if people from two timelines can influence each other..."

"Then maybe..."

"I can influence someone else, too."

A fresh stack of blank books appeared in his hands.

He opened one, and with a mere thought, words began to inscribe themselves across the pages.

"I am Kanzaki Rei. Within the ruins of time, I have been afflicted by a ’curse’ that continuously resets me back into the past. The current date is April 14, Year 5026. If there is anyone who has experienced the same thing, please leave your information here. This curse..."

Line after line—

He wrote tens of thousands of words.

In just a few minutes, like drafting a novel, he roughly recorded everything he had experienced throughout these repeated timelines.

Ansu asked, "Do you really think this will work?"

Kanzaki Rei replied,

"Who knows..."

But if his hypothesis was correct—

if there truly existed another person whose resetting timeline overlapped with his—

then perhaps...

just perhaps—

he might receive a reply.

Even if that person had only been cursed a hundred years later—

as long as they were sent back into the same point in time—

they might see it.

Of course...

it was only a possibility.